Hundreds pay respect to fallen Plymouth Officer Brad Fox (live video)

A long line of police escorts line the path of the hearse carrying fallen Plymouth police Officer Bradley Fox after his funeral at Epiphany of Our Lord church in Plymouth Wednesday. (Photo by Gene Walsh / Times Herald)

PLYMOUTH — Hundreds of people braved the sometimes torrential downpour to pay their respects to Officer Bradley Fox at Epiphany of Our Lord Church at a public viewing on Tuesday evening.

Nearly 50 law enforcement agencies from four different states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, attended the viewing in addition to the countless members of the public.

In addition to the public viewing, a press conference was also scheduled to be held Tuesday evening; however, the event became too overwhelming for the announced speakers, scheduled to include Plymouth Township Police Chief Joseph Lawrence, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman and a representative for the Fox family, and the press conference was cancelled, a police spokesman said.

Fox, a seven-year veteran of the Plymouth Township Police Department, was killed on Sept. 13 after investigating a hit-and-run that occurred on Conshohocken Road.

Fox, along with his K-9 partner Nick, began following the suspect, Andrew Charles Thomas, 44, of the 100 block of Grassmere Road in Lower Merion, who ambushed the officer in an industrial area near the Schuylkill River Trail, firing four shots at Fox, striking him once in the head and grazing his K-9 partner, who is expected to survive. Thomas then turned the gun on himself, fatally firing two shots into his own chest.

Thomas had been on probation stemming from a 2005 incident where he used $140 in forged gift certificates to Acme. He failed to show up for the initial hearing for the event and, as a result, had been a fugitive for seven years, before finally being apprehended on May 21 of this year and pleading guilty to the charges.

In addition to the counterfeit charge, Thomas had also been the primary suspect in the disappearance of 34-year-old Maria C. Procopio in September 1999, police sources confirmed to multiple broadcast reports.

Procopio had gone missing after her shift at QVC in West Chester and her body has never been found.

A second public viewing for Fox will be held today from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Epiphany of Our Lord Church, 3050 Walton Road in Plymouth Meeting followed by a Mass of Christian Burial. He will be interred at Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Bucks County.

CORRECTION: It was incorrectly stated in the original article that suspect Andrew Charles Thomas was a resident of Lower Providence. He was a resident of Lower Merion. We apologize for the error.